Stewart Detention Center- Three Stories

I recently traveled with a group organized by FaithAction International House to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia to visit immigrant detainees. Immigrant justice is a part of our congregation’s work through the Justice and Peacemaking Committee, so I wanted to share these stories with you.Stewart is a large for-profit detention center, supported by our tax dollars. It was cited in an extensive 2017 report for human and civil rights abuses, and its immigration court is known for denying detainees bail, asylum or other relief. (See the accompanying Information Sheet for more about Stewart and the detention system as a whole.)Hopelessness hangs over Stewart like a shroud. Most detainees are innocent of all but minor crimes. (Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor, overstaying a visa is not a crime, and applying for asylum is legal.) Some have completed a criminal sentence, but many have never been charged with any crime. Yet they are treated with contempt, incarcerated for long periods without due process, and denied many of the protections afforded criminals. I heard Christ’s call to visit those in prison. We visited out of compassion and to witness to injustice. We cannot offer legal or financial help, so there is little motivation for detainees to lie to us. If anything, fear that conversations are monitored might restrain them. Visitors are unable to take notes so rely on our recollections to share these stories.​The first story is Hector’s. Hector came to N.C. without documentation at age 17 and immediately got a job. He was employed 13 years at the same company, supporting his wife and children.One cold morning Hector was headed to work when ICE detained him. After removing his jacket to handcuff him, the agents drove him several freezing miles with windows down to a local detention jail. Officers applauded themselves openly for how many they had caught that day, and one laughed as he kicked away Hector’s prescription medication. After two days he was shackled and loaded onto a bus for the ten-hour drive to Stewart.Detainees were not given food or water, although they could see bottled water on the crowded, hot bus. They were not allowed to use the toilet. An officer told them he had just cleaned the toilet and they would get it dirty. He audibly flushed and asked how they liked “my toilet.” Some could not help urinating on themselves.At mid-day the bus stopped at a fast food restaurant. One of the agents strolled down the aisle of the bus eating his meal, saying how good his meal was and if they ever got out they should order meal number 4.Hector had been at Stewart over three months. His sadness was evident. His face compared with his picture ID showed he has lost a significant amount of weight. He misses and worries about his family. They cannot afford bail or an attorney.Those who talked with Hector were disturbed by the cruelty. But the most devastating part of Hector’s story was the searing pain of a broken family.The second story is Mufeed’s. Mufeed grew up in the Middle East. Twenty years ago our government granted him asylum due to dangerous conditions in his country.In 2017 his mother developed breast cancer. As he said, “She gave me life. I had to go to her.” He did not understand he would likely not be allowed to re-enter. Realizing he was still not safe there, he decided to return to the U.S. His family was permitted to return; Mufeed could not. He sent them on then began searching for a way to follow.Eventually he made his way to the U.S. but was soon picked up by ICE and sent to Stewart, where he has been for seven months awaiting a hearing.Mufeed is one of the lucky detainees who earn $3 a day to supplement the meager food and use the telephone. He expressed his fear of being deported back to the danger from which the U.S. once granted him asylum.The last thing Mufeed said to me was, “Family is everything. If I were single, it would not be so bad. But they are tearing apart families. A family is like a body. If one part is wounded, the whole body suffers.”At the Plexiglass cubicles where we visited the detainees, a word carved into the visitors’ side of the frame captured the pain both Mufeed and Hector expressed. The word was “Daddy.”The third story is Marty’s. Marty Rosenbluth is the only immigration attorney who regularly represents Stewart detainees.Marty met with us at our orientation at the nonprofit El Refugio, which supports families and other visitors. He told us about conditions at Stewart (a “hellhole” “designed to break the human spirit”), the dismal prospects for most of the detainees, and the injustices routinely perpetuated at the immigration court there.Marty has few successes.When someone asked how he can continue this work, Marty said his clients are his starfish. In that parable a child walks down the beach picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back. When a man asks why she bothers when she can’t possibly make a difference to so many, the child tosses another one back and replies, “I made a difference to that one.”Marty told us about a high school boy from North Carolina detained at Stewart. Just shy of graduating, he was picked up by ICE. With no defense to deportation, Marty hoped just to get him bail, as he desperately wanted to finish high school before being deported.The boy was beloved by his school and they rallied around him. At his bail hearing, Marty presented a petition signed by nearly every student in the school. Teachers and the principal wrote letters describing what a great kid he was. The judge was unmoved until Marty offered a letter from the boy’s ROTC instructor. He was granted bail, but set at thousands of dollars more than he could pay. His mother went to their community for help and raised every penny. Marty said he could go a long time on that small victory.Marty reminded me of another Jewish man who left his home and devoted his life to advocating for compassion and justice for the “despised and rejected.” Like him, Marty is acquainted with grief. As he was leaving, I commented that my experience as an assistant public defender several years ago gave me an inkling of what those starfish meant to him, those few successes in a sea of loss. “It’s no small thing you are doing here,” I told him.Marty smiled and said simply, “I sleep well at night.”Our Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection apply to migrants on U.S. soil, whatever their status. But what is happening at Stewart and elsewhere in the detention system bears little resemblance to the principles of justice in the Constitution.More importantly, what is happening bears little resemblance to the principles of justice that pervade the Bible. Advocating that immigrants be treated with justice – yes, even kindness – is not a partisan choice.It is an imperative of our faith.

--Melanie Rodenbough

Stewart Detention Center Information

Originally built as a medium-security prison, Stewart Detention Center is located deep in the piney woods of southern Georgia, in the tiny and deeply distressed town of Lumpkin. With around 1600 men imprisoned there, it is one of the largest centers in our country used for housing detained immigrants. The majority of them have never been convicted of any serious crime, and those convicted completed serving their time before being sent to Stewart.Although the national rate is close to 45%, only around 5% of Stewart detainees are granted asylum or other release. Stewart has been cited for its human and civil rights violations, among them poor quality water, meager, inedible or contaminated food, and little access to adequate medical care. Isolation is regularly employed for minor and random infractions. (“Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Detention Centers,” published in 2017.)Visits are limited to one hour per week, behind Plexiglas over a telephone connection. Outside telephone privileges are expensive. A for-profit commissary is available, but many detainees cannot afford the food there. Medical and religious dietary needs are reported routinely ignored.The detention center is the largest employer in Stewart County. It provides decent jobs for those with a high school education and a good credit history. However, detainees perform most of the everyday operational labor, at $1 to $4 a day. The combined property tax and $1 per day per head paid to the County constitute around a fifth of Stewart County’s budget.Detainees report instances of abusive behavior by guards. “Detained immigrants reported that the facility had some good officers, some bad officers, and a few very bad officers.” (Quoting from the report “Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Detention Centers,” see above).Migrants and refugees who are present in the U.S., regardless of their status, are entitled under settled Constitutional law to the protections of the 5th Amendment’s right to due process and the Equal Protection Clause. Detention absent a conviction is not supposed to be punitive. “(T)he Court has affirmed that “[p]ersons who have been involuntarily committed to a state institution are entitled to more considerate treatment and conditions of confinement than criminals whose conditions of confinement are designed to punish.” (From “Imprisoned Justice,” quoting Carlson v. Landon, U.S. Supreme Court 1952.)However, the rights to appointed counsel and to have the burden of proof placed on the government do not apply to detainees in court. That is because immigration is fundamentally a civil matter, even though criminal penalties can be imposed.In criminal law there is a correlation between the seriousness of a crime and the maximum sentence that can be imposed. The maximum sentence for coming across the border the first time without documentation is six months in custody. By comparison of seriousness of this crime, some of the many federal crimes that carry an equal or longer possible sentence include trespassing on national forest lands, misusing the 4H Club emblem, transporting fireworks across state lines, and mailing an NCAA bracket or office Super Bowl pool.It is estimated that overstaying a visa has created half of the undocumented immigrants in this country, far more than unauthorized border crossings. But overstaying a visa is not a crime, only a civil violation. And making a claim to asylum is legal, and until recently did not usually subject a migrant to detention. In other words, detainees who would not be considered criminals under United States criminal and constitutional law are in fact being held and treated in many cases worse than many criminals, and they lack many of the protections of those who commit serious crimes.Stewart inmates might be detained for months or years awaiting disposition of their cases or deportation. Its location is not an accident, as the remoteness and lack of lodging prevents most families from visiting. There is one full-time practicing immigration attorney within 2 ½ hours of Lumkin. Even if granted bail, many inmates lack money for attorneys or for bail. There is no effective bail bond system for detainees – most bail, recently escalating to several thousand dollars, must be paid in full in cash or secured by real estate.For all these reasons, Stewart is a grim and hopeless place where many suffer from depression and several have committed or attempted to commit suicide. Put bluntly by that one attorney, Marty Rosenbluth, Stewart is intentionally designed to break the human spirit.Our tax money sustains this and the other more than 200 immigration prisons and jails around the country. Together they house up to 40,000+ detainees at a cost of around $145 per detainee per day. The U.S. maintains the largest detention center infrastructure in the world, and it has grown and prospered under both democratic and republican administrations and congresses.Many of the large detention centers have been privatized and are managed at a significant profit. The operation of Stewart is contracted to a large corporation called Core Civic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America. In the 4th quarter of 2018 Core Civic posted a net adjusted income of $48.1M (from its website). Between 2002 and 2012 the company spent $18M in lobbying members of Congress for Homeland Security Appropriations.The non-profit El Refugio is a ministry of hospitality and visitation serving immigrants detained at Stewart Detention Center, their families, and friends. The volunteers there coordinate the FaithAction visits, conduct an orientation, and accompany these visitors into the detention center. You can learn more about their work at their website, https://www.elrefugiostewart.org or on their Facebook page.

“The Only Lawyer in Town: A lonesome figure stands up for immigrants,” The Guardian, Oct. 14, 2018

Elder Melanie Rodenbough

Let My People StayPosted by melabo1 Feb 9 2018

I’m deeply grateful to our Session for supporting the faith leaders press conference that was held at Guilford Park Thursday, February 8 and to the many congregation members who came. The conference was in support of a clean Dream Act or similar legislation to protect the young people who were brought as children to this country without documentation.

Our elected officials were called on by name to do the right thing, the moral thing. There were no personal attacks and no partisanship. The event was political in the sense that elected leaders were called on because only our elected leaders can resolve this moral issue that touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people raised and educated among us.

If you were there or saw the conference on the news, I hope you agree that this was a deeply faithful event. The word of God was proclaimed in our sanctuary, proclaimed emphatically, by these faith leaders. I was moved by what the Spirit did through them. They were given no scripts, no assigned messages other than the general message of support for a Dream Act and support for keeping families together. And yet from the opening prayer by Jeff Paschal through the resounding closing call “Let My People Stay” by Rabbi Andy Koren, each affirmed with passion and clarity our scriptural imperative to love our neighbors and welcome the stranger.

Several stories of particular DACA recipients were shared. As David Fraccaro, Executive Director of FaithAction, often says, if we can take off our political hats and put on our faith hats, we can hear with greater clarity and come to consensus on the moral message: When people are suffering in fear, families are facing brutal abrupt estrangement, and young people are longing to make their place in the only world they have ever known, our faith compels us to speak out for them. That is what occurred on Thursday in our sanctuary.

We left on a hopeful, upbeat note with the impromptu simple words of “This Little Light of Mine” sung by the gathered crowd of over 100 people, accompanied by Rabbi Fred Guttman at the piano. May God bless these young Dreamers for their courage and these religious leaders for their faithful witness.

– Melanie Rodenbough

Suffer the Little ChildrenPosted by melabo1 Oct 18 2017

The title above is a quote from Jesus, from the King James Version of the Bible. The full quote reads “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Jesus is asking his followers to let the children engage with him rather than shielding him from them. Later translations use the word “Let” instead of “Suffer,” but the double meaning in the word “suffer” catches our attention as we think about children living in poverty. They suffer. And too often we Christians shield ourselves from them and their suffering.

Our study of childhood poverty through the book Our Kids has taught us that poor children are increasingly out of sight and therefore out of mind for those of us in the middle and upper classes in America. We live in separate neighborhoods, attend different churches and schools, and have increasingly fewer community interactions. Studies and our own experience teach us that when we don’t know poor people, we are more likely to ostracize, stigmatize and create myths about them that further shield us from their plight.

Speaking to a couple myths in her presentation on the impact of poverty on health care for poor children, pediatrician and life-long member Anna Rodenbough said: “Parents living in poverty are not worse parents. There is nothing involving money that makes you love your kid more or less. These parents are doing much more in terms of trying to budget and trying to organize transportation, school, and after school – but they have a paucity of resources. Many parents go without food so their kids will have food. It’s pretty shocking that that exists in the U.S. today – but it does.”

GPPC member Trent Walton, a middle school principal, opened our minds to the challenges poor children face in addition to lack of material resources, challenges that often cause us to stigmatize rather than empathize with them:“Children are born with six hardwired emotional responses: sadness, joy, disgust, anger, surprise, and fear. All other emotional responses must be taught, including humility, forgiveness, empathy, optimism, compassion, sympathy, patience, shame, cooperation, and gratitude. When compared to children from well-off families, children living in poverty are more likely to not have access to an adult with the time and/or ability to teach them these critical emotional responses.” From Teaching with Poverty in Mind, by Eric Jensen.

And our own Sally Beck, who shared her significant experience working with poor children through the Guardian ad Litem program, challenged us to see poor children the way Jesus saw them, not ostracize and shame them and their parents as a financial burden on those of us with resources : “If we only evaluate things through the lens of fiscal responsibility, we miss what chronic anxiety, trauma and scarcity do to people.” – Judy Wu Dominick

We might think about the many ways we “other” the poor, as discussed in this article we shared in the Our Kids study.Our goal in this series has been to expand our knowledge, and with that knowledge, to create the empathy that allows us to see poor children through Christ’s eyes. In the words of our Sunday School curriculum, “Children, Poverty and the Bible”:

“The prevailing hope is not that we would know more or even do more as a result of this study; but that we would be transformed into people and communities who demonstrate the will of God in issues related to children and poverty.”

We who serve on the Justice and Peacemaking and Enrichment committees are grateful that so many of you chose to engage with us, to read and study and listen and learn and discuss. Whether or not you’ve had a chance to join us so far, we hope you will come to hear Gene Nichol this weekend, and hear him with an open mind and heart.

Let us seek to be transformed by God’s word into people who suffer — and suffer with — the little children.

-Melanie Rodenbough, For the Justice and Peacemaking and Enrichment Committees

Which Hat?Posted by melabo1 Oct 11 2017

My friend David Fraccaro from FaithAction International House likes to ask when he’s talking to Christian folk about immigration, “Take off your political hat and put on your faith hat.” When we do that, we find we have more in common than we might think.

That’s what we’re asking our congregation and community to do on October 21 and 22 when Gene Nichol speaks to us about childhood poverty. Let’s take David’s approach — put aside our political hats and put on our faith hats.

How can our faith inform our thinking about children in poverty? “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17). This is not an isolated verse, but a central theme of the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

Can we allow the Bible to speak to us about poverty?

Can we allow Jesus Christ’s words and actions toward the poor to move our hearts and inform our thinking?

Can we think about poor children as children for whom we share responsibility?

Can we hear Gene Nichol’s words through the filter of God’s justice rather than the filter of our partisan righteousness?

Will you come? Which hat will you bring?

-Melanie Rodenbough, for the Ruth Lamb Enrichment Subcommittee

Why Should We Learn More About Childhood Poverty?Posted by melabo1 Oct 3 2017

Have you heard that our church is studying childhood poverty this fall?

Many of us are blessed with abundance or at least with enough to enjoy what we consider a decent, middle-class lifestyle, and share a little extra with our poor neighbors through Greensboro Urban Ministry, mission trips and other charities. So why is a nice church like ours talking so much about childhood poverty?

A better question might be, “Am I taking advantage of the opportunity to learn more?”

Our Session established goals for the work of the church this year. One of those was to increase our efforts in advocacy and education on issues of justice and peacemaking. Another was to consider how Guilford Park might become a 21st Century church, a “thought leader” in our community. The Childhood Poverty study addresses both goals.

But the underlying reason for our study is that as we worked on justice and peacemaking issues, we realized how much poverty impacts those who are marginalized. Some folks might consider that more of a political issue, not a faith concern for the church. But it turns out that the Bible, and in particular the prophets and Jesus, have a lot to say about God’s care for the poor and marginalized and God’s passion to seek justice for them. And it’s pretty clear that God expects us to have that passion, too.

We start from a place of confessing: That we don’t know as much as we think. That we make a lot of assumptions. That we believe and recite a lot of myths. That we would rather not think about poor children too much. That we’re not sure they’re really poor.If you haven’t had a chance to participate in any of the classes, there are still two more each of the Monday evening book study and the 10:00 a.m. Sunday School class. We would welcome you!

But even if you can’t make any of those, we really, REALLY hope you will join us for the Ruth Lamb Enrichment Series weekend, October 21 and 22.

Who was Ruth Lamb? A long-time member and supporter of GPPC. She and her husband Jack established a fund to support enriching events for the church long after they were gone. And the fund has done just that: We’ve heard great speakers, participated in marriage enrichment and music programs, and expanded our understanding of youth ministry and liturgical arts, to name a few.

This year for only the second time in the fund’s 20+ year history, we have a speaker on a social justice issue, childhood poverty. He is Gene Nichol, professor and former Dean of the law school at UNC-Chapel Hill. Gene is also director of the N.C. Poverty Research Fund. Gene has studied poverty in North Carolina over many years and has a challenging message: It will take both private charity and public policy changes to lift our children out of poverty.

Gene’s is a faith-driven advocacy. He has a story about how he came up out of the Texas football culture where he was a top college recruit and in the process realized how the poor, including his family, were looked down upon. His personal story and his Catholic background have motivated Gene to care passionately about “the least of these.”

So we hope you’ll come hear Gene, come and join our church family, come and welcome our community for this excellent speaker. All the details are available at the church website, on the church Facebook page, and in the brochures and posters at the church. Be sure to make a reservation and prepay for the dinner Saturday the 21st at 6:00 p.m. Everything else is free and requires no reservation.

Why should we learn more about childhood poverty? Because children in poverty are God’s children, and they are our children, too.-Melanie Rodenbough, for the Justice and Peacemaking Committee

What did you do this summer?Posted by craignygard Aug 9 2017

The wisdom writer know as Ecclesiastes writes, “And a time for every matter under heaven.”

Worshiping from the pews this summer, we were treated to a great sermon series titled “Music Lessons.” In additionspecial music summer 2017 to the spoken word describing the interplay of melody, harmony, form and rhythm in our lives, a wide range of special music enhanced the spirituality of the services. While the congregation found a steady rhythm in worship, the rest of church life took its own sabbath rest time with a break from committees, Sunday school, choir and other group meetings.

But that’s just the surface view.

Action was definitely happening–it was simply elsewhere or at other times. The middle school youth went on a spiritual retreat to Massanetta Springs and are now preparing for a mission trip to Washington, DC. The high school youth have had their mission and spiritual retreats as well. Not to be left out, the younger crowd from the church and community filled our halls with record numbers for Vacation Bible School. At the same time, a hearty band of members launched an international mission to Nicaragua. Phew! That’s a lot of activity.

You see, June and July were just low points for committee meetings. That is what struck me when committee meetings drew me to the church two nights in a row. These two meetings are in preparation for upcoming events, much like the various mission and retreat activities of the summer. The rhythm of planning the events and producing the events are now the rhythm of the late summer and fall.The key piece of that planning rhythm is to keep the melody going in harmony with all the other melodies of other committees. There is time for such “matters under heaven,” but each have their own cadence. Indeed, this part of the church season seems to be the “time to build up.”

Stay tuned.

Advocacy: A Report from the FrontPosted by melabo1

This past weekend Peter McKinnon and I attended the 2017 Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C. We journeyed there on behalf of our colleagues on the Justice and Peacemaking Committee, but also on behalf of all of you, the people of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. Our hope is that we can put to use what we learned and experienced in our own ministry of justice and peacemaking right here on Fernwood Drive

In case you don’t know, as I did not, what this 15-year old conference is all about, here’s a brief summary from the website. This particular 2017 gathering celebrated the 50th anniversary of the “Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Riverside Church in New York, one year before his assassination. You can listen to it here.

“In our annual National Gathering, Ecumenical Advocacy Days focused on the theme“Confronting Chaos, Forging Community“from April 21-24, 2017. We grappled with the intersectionality of racism, materialism, and militarism, and learned more about the impact they have around the world, in our communities, and in our own lives. Through prayer, worship, advocacy training, and networking with other Christians, we faced the current manifestations of these ‘triplets’ and together advocated for change in public policy that better reflects the Beloved Community about which Dr. King spoke. After a weekend filled with education and training and a prayer vigil at the Pentagon, the event culminated with a Lobby Day on Monday, April 24, 2017, where participants converged on Capitol Hill to meet with their Members of Congress and Senators. Also on Lobby Day, a group of dozens of Christian clergy and lay leaders and advocates participated in a prayerful witness and civil disobedience in a Senate office building, rejecting the budget proposal of President Trump which calls for reduction in human needs spending at home and abroad to pay for sharp and unnecessary increases in Pentagon spending.”

Wow. That sounds like a lot to me now – no wonder I’m still tired! And no, Peter and I did not get arrested for civil disobedience. But we participated in all the rest, and it was an astonishing experience. 900 or so Christians, committed to and exploring the meaning of justice and peace in our world, spellbinding speakers including the Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, and a great many enthusiastic and well-informed people leading various workshops, including a wonderful breakfast meeting exploring the challenges experienced by our LGBTQ neighbors. A lovely young Muslim woman shared with us the heartbreaking simplicity of her life as a gay woman: “I am not allowed to exist.”

Some of what we heard made us uncomfortable, but we were there partly to be made uncomfortable. Some of what we heard affirmed our fledgling Justice and Peacemaking ministry at GPPC that has been supported by so many of you. Much of what we heard challenged us to dig deeper into the meaning of justice in our nation and our world, deeper into empathy with those who suffer from injustice, discrimination and marginalization, and deeper into the power and challenge of being an advocate. And we connected with people from across the USA, from many different faith communities, who are facing the same challenges.

Snatches from my notes tell some of the story: “The sin of just doing our jobs;” “Out of love & faith the women (at the tomb) show up – so find your inner woman;” “Be a midwife of hope;” “Faith is porous – there’s room for stuff to get out and stuff to get in, it’s subject to intrusion and perversion;” “When we promote just wars & holy wars and claim God is on our side, we become tools for the 3 evils of racism, materialism and militarism;” “One can name Jesus Savior and Lord and promote someone who displays by actions he or she does not know our Savior and Lord;” “We just want to love people and get along, not get involved with politics;” “‘Us’ and ‘Them’ eats away at the soul, making some people expendable;” “We adjust to empire and don’t critique it;” and my favorite (from Dr. Nelson): “If your church isn’t promoting social justice, you need to find a new church.”

It was powerful to stand on the lawn of the Pentagon with a couple hundred others singing and praying for peace, especially after having heard stories from around the world of how our nation often takes actions that seem to promote war and not peace. It was equally powerful for me to witness Peter pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair back to the hotel, one of God’s mighty warriors for peace even in his age and infirmity. He was grateful for the help and clearly thrilled to be there! Earlier in the day, one very poignant story came from a North Korean guest speaker, begging that we as Christians advocate that our government help promote a peace process and not escalate war. I thought of that man and the everyday citizens on whose behalf he spoke, and prayed that our nation will exercise wisdom and restraint in the current climate. His face will stay with me as our leaders debate our course.

And on our last day, Peter and I were happy to head to the Senate office buildings to sit down with the rest of the NC “delegation” and talk with staffers of Senators Burr and Tillis about the budget. We asked that we not increase military spending at the expense of spending on people, health care, infrastructure, education and the environment. We asked that the proven programs that have fed people here and around the world not be cut, but expanded. We asked that black and brown people – African Americans who have been imprisoned in such devastating number, Muslims and others who seek refuge from terror and war, immigrants who seek a better life and have contributed to our communities – that these people be protected and respected as God’s children.

Here’s a picture of the two of us outside Senator Burr’s office: Let me say how grateful I am for our congregation that has also been challenged and stretched by this new ministry. Many of you like me grew up not understanding what on earth such “political” matters have to do with faith, and together we are coming to understand that working for justice and peace in the world is actually central to our Christian call. Let me also quote Dr. Nelson again: “There is no conflict between justice and spirituality. A church can do both.” I thank God as always for all the good ministry in which we are engaged at GPPC. And I hope more of us will get the chance to attend the Ecumenical Advocacy Days gathering, and bring back their energy, passion and ideas, as together we strive to be people who seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.–Melanie Rodenbough

Stand Up and Step Out!Posted by melabo1

“Stand Up and Step Out!”

That’s the title of the church’s theme for 2017. The words reflect the primary purposes of two of our session committees—Justice and Peacemaking (“Stand Up” to advocate for the poor and marginalized and for peace) and Mission (“Step Out” in service to those in need). We want to challenge more members of the congregation to become involved in our work, in addition to the good ministry you do within our congregation.

This past week has been a busy one for both ministries. Last Sunday we celebrated our partnership with Bread for the World, reminding us of the need to continually pray and advocate for the hungry and malnourished.

On Tuesday night the church hosted a gathering of approximately 125 people, both from GPPC and from the greater community, to hear a challenging presentation on systemic racism in our culture. From presenter Bay Love we learned that studies have confirmed the existence of race as the most important factor in significantly poorer outcomes for blacks than white across all our systems—education, health care, criminal justice, social services, and financial services.

Part of the crowd at GPPC to learn about systemic racism.

This conversation comes at the end of a two-month Sunday School class on race led by the JP Committee, and just prior to the study of Jim Wallis’ book on racism, titled American’s Original Sin. We hope to help bring to the congregation and community a heightened awareness of the role race plays in our culture, as well as thoughtful responses for us as a Christian congregation to the injustices caused by the sin of racism.

Wednesday evening three of our members participated in the Air Horn Orchestra outside the Governor’s Mansion in Raleigh, to bring attention to the injustice that HB2 has brought to the LGBTQ community in North Carolina.

Meanwhile on Wednesday morning, a team of eight hardy souls left on the annual mission trip to Washington DC, where they will work in various ministries related to poverty and homelessness. They will represent us well as they extend the love of God and the hand of fellowship to those in need, helping provide direct services through various ministries there.

This extended trip caps off a busy season of the Mission Committee’s regular ministries to feed the hungry through GUM, Interactive Resource Center, A Simple Gesture and Hot Dish and Hope, as well as sponsoring the annual Blood Drive, the current Habitat for Humanity build, and the CROP Walk.

Many of these ministries will continue through Advent and into the new year.

And coming in July 2017, an international mission trip!The Mission Committee held an informational meeting on October 18, and looks forward to serving our international community on the trip.More information to come for members of the congregation interested in joining.Together Justice and Peacemaking and Mission represent a good part of our congregation’s effort to share the love of Christ with the world outside our church walls. They do not compete, but complement each other. As Frank Dew so beautifully illustrated in his recent sermon, when the sink is overflowing with water we need to both mop up the immediate problem of the water on the floor (Mission) and turn off the water to address the long-term source of the problem (Justice and Peacemaking).

There’s a real term called “race fatigue.” It refers to the stress African American students feel as they navigate predominantly white institutions of higher learning.

But many white people suffer from a different kind of “race fatigue” – a weariness with hearing about race and racism. We wonder why we are still talking about racial inequity fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement. Weren’t these issues resolved with the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Acts? Isn’t the African American community responsible now for its own problems?

And many of us also might wonder, What does this have to do with the church? Why do we have to hear about this from the pulpit, in classes, in the newsletter, and now now here in the church blog, of all places? Aren’t these political and economic issues, rather than faith concerns?

And many of us also might wonder, What does this have to do with the church? Why do we have to hear about this from the pulpit, in classes, in the newsletter, and now now here in the church blog, of all places? Aren’t these political and economic issues, rather than faith concerns?

We know the church is called to speak out against injustice. The Bible is clear about God’s call for us to seek justice for the poor, the marginalized, and the stranger. We hear this in the ringing call of the prophet Micah “To do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.” Knowing we are called to do Christ’s work in the world, we hear that call also in the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”

And yet the white church has often failed to acknowledge the sin of racism or advocate for justice for black people. We failed throughout American history—first in the time of slavery, when the church bell often also served as the slave auction bell, up to and through much of the Civil Rights Movement. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed members of the white clergy: But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen. When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.

We are confronted in the news with incidents that reflect ongoing racial tensions, racial violence, and racial injustices, both around the country and here in our own community. In all of our institutional systems – education, health care, social services, criminal justice, etc. – outcomes for blacks are worse than for whites. Study after study indicates race is the determining factor for those poor outcomes.

We struggle with how to respond as Christians to these realities. The Justice and Peacemaking Committee has spent a year learning and planning to engage our congregation in some of the issues around racial equity and justice. We hope many of you will make the decision to step out of your comfort zone, as we have tried to do, to learn more. Come and think, grow, and learn with us. Bring your concerns and opinions and insights. Let’s see together where God might be calling us to speak and act for justice. Opportunities include:

A Sunday School series (4 weeks, Sept. 11 – Oct. 2), led by Tim and Laura Peck and Keith Harrington, based upon video lessons developed by Salem Presbytery’s Task Force on Peace and Justice. Drop in on any class.

A study of evangelical leader Jim Wallis’s book, America’s Original Sin: Race, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America (Monday evenings, Nov. 7 – Dec. 5). This book speaks directly to us as Christians.

A series of discussions hosted by GPPC and other churches titled “Doing Our Work,” specifically for white people who want to better understand racism, put on by the Guilford Anti-Racism Alliance, the first Tuesday of each month beginning in October. Find the schedule on the JP bulletin board. GPPC will host the meeting on Tuesday, November 1st.

Let it not be said of us that we chose to “remain silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.”